The head football coach at Boston College never stops thinking about football, but his mind-set eases just a bit when he enters Cape Cod.

"When I come here, I feel like I get away," Addazio said on Monday in Dennis before he went back up to Chestnut Hill for a few days of work. "You don't get away from (football). The only difference is you get away from the day-to-day grind, the rat race, which is nice."

After being named head coach at BC last December, Addazio has been on the go seemingly non-stop. He threw himself into recruiting right away, and had a roster of 80 players he had to get to know. A spring full of running practices and studying his new team soon turned into summer camps.

Finally, by the Fourth of July, Addazio had a small window to relax. For the last two weeks, he has been spending time with family and friends at his home in Dennis, which serves as his escape from the rest of the world.

"This is the best way for me to recharge my battery," Addazio said.

Still, Addazio is always on the job. On Monday, he had planned to go to the beach before finding himself on the phone all morning. Occurrences like that happen more often than not, but being in a different environment makes a difference.

"When I go to work sometimes, I get there at 7 a.m and I'm just pelted until I leave," Addazio said. "I don't have that here. It's more relaxed."

Addazio has been coming to Cape Cod since he was young, just a short trek from his childhood home in Connecticut. His family, along with four other families, would camp in Truro for a week every summer. It was then that he was introduced to the life of going to the beach during the day and having big family dinners at the campgrounds each night.

"We'd run the dunes in Provincetown," Addazio said. "I lost my dad when he was young, but I remember just some really great times up here. Really fond memories."

Now, at 54, Addazio is doing the same thing with his family and friends.

When a friend bought a home in Dennis four years ago, it reminded Addazio how much he wanted to return to Cape Cod and have his own place.

He had gotten away from his Northeast roots for a while, making the move around the country as an assistant football coach. After spending seven years as a high school football coach in Connecticut, Addazio spent four years at Syracuse, three at Notre Dame, three at Indiana and six at Florida.

"I never wanted to be far away from home," Addazio said. "Well, our business just doesn't work that way. It took a long time for me to get back. My intent was never really to leave.

In 2011, he took his first head coaching job at Temple that brought him back toward the Northeast.

It was during that time, when Addazio made a trip to Cape Cod two summers ago and was deciding whether to buy a house, that he spent a day at the beach with his friend.

"We sat down there in these chairs until the water came all the way up to our chin," he said. "I just remember laying in the water like, 'Wow. This is really something.'"

Addazio and his wife bought a house in Dennis that summer, one he would only get to use for about three weeks a year.

When the head coaching job at BC became available last November, Addazio made his move back to New England.

Now, just an hour and 15 minutes from his house in Dennis, Addazio can pop back and forth between Cape Cod and BC, spending more time with his family and friends on the beach.

"I would say it's one of the best things I've done," Addazio said. "I love it here. It's beautiful. I love this part of the Cape. It's not crazy. I got really close friends here that all live within a half a mile so we all just hang out together. It's a lot of fun."

It's that same family value that Addazio is trying to instill in the football program at BC.

"That's a big thing for us at BC," Addazio said. "I believe in having a football program where you coach them hard and you love them hard. There's not a lot of great teams out there. We gotta be a great team. It's a lot like having a great family. You gotta really take care of each other and enjoy being around each other."

Being a homeowner on Cape Cod was a long time coming for Addazio, who always had a dream of having his own home on a beach.

Though the route he took for a return to New England may have been a long one, Addazio is cherishing his new opportunity.

"In our business, we move a lot," Addazio said. "Our kids have been in different places. I've always said one day, I want to get a place that's our place forever. That'll never be sold. That'll be our place and when I'm not here, it's handed down to the kids and it'll always be a place where they look back and say, 'That's our place.'"

Addazio now has that place for his family and sees his home in Dennis as where he'd like to retire to some day.

"This is as relaxed as I get right here," Addazio said, as his normally booming voice subdued for at least the time being.

Soon, Addazio will be in up to his head with work, as training camp looms just 17 days away.

For now, though, it'll only be the water that comes up to his chin as he sits on the beach enjoying his rediscovered paradise.

"Every time I'm here, I'm happier," he said. "I hope it stays that way forever."